Rackspace Community

cloud images

Cloud Sites MSSQL Usage Fees Invoiced as of October 2013

Article ID: 3681

Last updated on January 2, 2014

Authored by: Rackspace Support

As of September 2013, a sub-set of customer accounts were not being billed for actual usage in comparison to their pre-selected MSSQL storage allocations. As a result, some accounts have been identified as consuming MSSQL usage over their pre-selected allocations. Those accounts were not being billed for overages.

Due to the disparity between actual usage and pre-selected allocations, Rackspace Cloud Sites resumed capturing and invoicing for actual MSSQL usage starting in October 2013.

How are customers impacted by this change?

Customers who had actual usage exceeding their pre-selected allocations in the control panel likely saw increased charges.

What is an example of how MSSQL storage is billed?

If a customer utilizes 241 MB for MSSQL storage, the invoice will show their MSSQL usage fee total as $15. Since we bill in 100 MB increments, 241 MB of MSSQL storage would result in a fee for 300 MB of MSSQL storage.

Will customers be billed retroactively for past usage?

No, customers will not be retroactively billed for past usage on MSSQL overages.

What options do customers have to reduce their MSSQL usage charges?

Customers can optimize or reduce the size of tables, clear out redundant entries, remove empty tables, or remove any unnecessary whitespace from data.

Customers using MSSQL Server Management Tools 2012 or MyLittleAdmin can shrink their databases from within those applications.

Discussing your database requirements with a Technical Account Manager may also help determine options within the Rackspace portfolio. For example, a customer may decide to spin up a Cloud Server with MSSQL installed, using either the Web or Standard versions.